Newspaper, welcome rachel and alex. So, rachel lets appeared with you what is this thing about food and identity . When i teach classes, on jewish food and identity, i begin by telling my students, that food might be the most important thing in the whole world, it is the thing that we are probably all thinking about all of the time and of course once i mentioned it everybody is thinking about it, but it shapes our world, it shapes us physically, and it shapes us as who we are as a community, as a family, as nations. It is so interesting, alex you think about food and you talk about food and you write about food, and you have created this new organization, what is illuminashi. Its the not so secret society of bay area jewish professionals, i created after writing about juice who work in the food world for six years and realizing that there is so many of us. And how we do identify jewish lee was interesting as a ribeye who never step foot into jewish institutions when i created this group, they started coming out of the woodwork. I realized there are so many people here who do identify as jewish but there is this qualifier, like im a secular jewel, or i havent stepped foot in a synagogue in 20 years. Since my bar mitzvah, but they always felt the need to tell me that as if that gives them admission into the group. I dont care if you identify as jewish in some way, i created a group that ended up serving as some kind of jewish connection forother people who often havent been. And thats really interesting for me because thats not exactly what i had in mind when i set out to create it. Youve learned that there is a different kind of identity around food, as he brought people together . I see it as a real connection point, its so noncontroversial its something we can agree on it like rachel said Everybody Needs to eat, and even if were not eating jewish food together, which often we are not. Coming together over food is something that is a natural connection point for people. It seems, when you look at it a little bit more deeply and broadly, food is at the core of so many ways in which we understand the core of archaeology if you want to understand how people live, its at the core of anthropology if you want to understand how people migrated across the world and how people are able to do so. Its at the core of sociology, and all of the different fields and certainly the core of medicine its at the core of theology, how we use all of these things in our lifetime. And so every faith tradition really has this way of doing really evidence groups, we turn on the local stations, and half of them are about our particular kind of food and a particular way of cooking and eating at a table. So i just want to know in the context, what can we kind of know that might seem obvious about the way that food actually, to make somebody feel jewish, or were jewish, or used to serve people through a Life Experience . Edge, im working on a book manuscript that is called feeling jewish. And im looking at one of the chapters i am looking at, and writing is on american juice and food, and precisely how ashkenazi food that has a coronary tradition in Eastern Europe and developed in the United States how american juice will sit down to that food whether it is a pastrami sandwich or a pickle, but food that for them feels like home, and feel like their community. And it will bring up, it will bring up feelings of nostalgia which is essential and im most interested in that. Nostalgic in what way . Im looking at nostalgia just for personal experiences, which is how we usually think of nostalgia, but nostalgia or community origins, for Jewish Community or insurance, for heritage and central and Eastern Europe. And the way that American Jewish traditions developed in the United States, and immigrated ethic neighborhoods. Alex, rachel were going to take a quick break and come back to talk about this here on mosaic. Good morning and welcome back to mosaic. Im honored to be your house this morning were in the middle of a wonderful conversation about food and identity. Alex wahl, who is the founder of the wonderful Organization Called illuminashi, and is contributing editor at the local newspaper, the jewish juice of north carolina. Welcome back alex and rachel, we were talking before about the notion of nostalgia and food. Im wondering alex, how you see that topic. Whether you call it nostalgia or not for me, i think recipes can be so powerful and what we make for the holidays and jewish food in general because it reminds us of ancestors that are no longer living. I know that when i cook a certain brisket recipe or an apple cake recipe it reminds me of my mother. And shes no longer living and thats very powerful for me to have these recipes that she made even if now i feel like cooking trends have evolved so much that apple cake is blase. I make so many Better Things than that now, but the taste of it can evoke memories of her and that is so powerful. So i still make it sometimes. Why do you think, why do you think the newspaper has a food column anyways and why do you think we likereading about food and food columns and recipes . There has been this ascent of food in the popular culture, where so many more people are interested in it that used to be. I think also chefs have become rock stars that didnt used to be the case. I know a lot of especially jewish parents didnt want their children to become a chef. You had to be a doctor or a lawyer it was seen as a very bluecollar profession but that has changed. I think food in the overall culture has really just a grown in status. But, also i think someone who has been in journalism for a long time, i think there are so many depressing things in the world going on and i think food is just you know, i call it fluff and sometimes i could be down on myself or i write for for the newspaper but i think it is equally important to have stories that arent about whats going on in israel, and palestine, wherever you know i mean there are just so many terrible things happening in the world i think it is nice to turn to the back of the paper and read the art section about food. Because, it is a distraction and it is a good distraction to have, to think about what youre going to make for the next dinner. I wonder also if in some historic way, but maybe this is kind of a nostalgia ritual, that if your faith community, and your wanting to make it in a society, to get a food column in a newspaper it is almost like a sign of status like you have made it, other people are reading about your food even if it is just yourself, its out there in the world there something about it maybe that has to do with a mark of achievement in a sense, i dont know if that is part of what you mean rachel by nostalgia . I think of nostalgia, in a way that is a little bit different. Alex kind of distanced herself from nostalgia which i think a lot of people do, i want to think of the ways in which nostalgia is productive, its a story that is simplistic but it provides a lot of meaning for us and helps us understand where we are, in time, and in the world. How so . So we can think of our communities if we think about the American Jewish story the ashkenazi jewish store weve been talking about, we tell the story of economic success generally. And we tell a story of ashkenazi juice coming from central and Eastern Europe, generally we imagine them as poor whether or not they were. We imagine them coming to the lower east side, or other urban neighborhoods, and struggling, economically and then american juice generally, this is true though it is a simplified story that they generally get more money overall in their communities are a little bit more stable you might say. So to look back at the food that we imagine our ancestors eating, tells a story of who we are, and who we think that our ancestors and our communal ancestors were. Is that also i guess the same weight in which food at a Holiday Celebration were to passover seder, shabbat dinner tables. Even the weddings or baby naming, that sort of thing . Absolutely, the way that we find meaning in our lives, in our religious lives, in our community lives, it is always built around food. I am most interested in the food outside of those big religious celebrations. I dont know where alex would point us but im interested in the type of everyday food over lifes. And how that makes up our lives and tell us who we are in the world. Were going to take another break and continue this conversation in just a moment here on mosaic. Good morning, welcome back to mosaic im honored to be your host,at the beginning of this conversation we were talking about the Jewish Community, with Professor Rachel groves. And alex wall, welcome back. Alex and rachel. Lets continue our conversation, what were you thinking alex about this notion of everyday food and what we eat . Living in the bay area i am so used to, i have so many friends with various illustrations that so many of my friends are dairy free, or the list goes on. And, i had my cousins visiting this past weekend who grew up on the east coast and his wife and his sun. And my Natural Inclination was i want to have a bagel brunch. That is something that i never think of doing on a normal weekend when it is my husband and die. We dont get bagels even though we have a great bagel shop right down the street. And i thought i want lox and cream cheese and the whole thing. And, it felt like family thats what you do you have bagel brunch because when i was growing up on the east coast their family always had bagel brunch for us when we came over it was a thing. So many east coast families have bagel brunch on the weekends. And i find that my california jewish friends its not really part of their tradition. And that has been a source of you know, i have found that some jewish foods that i consider so traditional, some people dont even know what they are. Like i remember at one point i quizzed my jewish friends you know who grew up in california if people knew what certain things were and a lot of people didnt. What are some things . Theres a buckwheat green, caccia is a buckwheat grain that has a very nutty flavor, and you cook it with the bowtie noodles, and it is a very jewish comfort food, theres nothing particularly spectacular about it it is just hearty and filling and delicious. I dont make it that often but it is one of those traditional foods that a lot of people on the west coast have no familiarity with. Do you think then, that if you dont have a traditional jewish food or what you consider for your family a traditional jewish food there is some way in which a jewish person may not feel that there actually observing the holiday or having the celebration some way if you dont have matzoh ball soup at a passover or you dont have a koegel for shabbat, i know a lot of ashkenazic canadian juice release really have a certain grass soup that a lot of people have, or cadre of sue. Is there a way on how you have an impact of how you feel like you are doing something . I think that food can act like other objects, or of the rituals, where it makes things real for us, you know we know it is a holiday because we have those foods, or we bring out those dishes, we know that its really real, because we have those things that are meaningful to us. And so, you were talking earlier about nostalgia, how do you think about this notion of food and meaning and nostalgia in the way in which someone would feel like they are jewish, or authentically jewish or legitimately jewish, whatever you might think of for yourself. A lot of times we think about who we are in the world the beginning with ourselves, what are the choices we make, how do we think about our family and our familys history. And then broadening to our communities story often may be a religious story or an ethnic story. So, when ashkenazi juice jews extended, think about themselves they tell that particular story of who they are in the world. So eating a pastrami sandwich or a bagel, might connect them to a broader story of the ashkenazi jews. What is happening when a jewish prophet opens up a deli on the corner and its open to the public and it serving our daily food so you can get chopped liver and rye bread and a bagel and matzoh ball soup, and all sorts of jewish foods. Any day of the week anytime you want. And you were essentially opening your shop up, of your ethnic identity everyday food to the world. What is that work, what is that that were sharing it in that way . I think its interesting that you named particular foods, jewish food has become recognizable by certain iconic jewish foods. We know what ashkenazi jewish food is, we know what belongs in a deli because some foods have been recognizable as jewish and is a state where we teach a class on American Jewish food history we explored the notion and go through American Jewish history beginning with colonial merchants who are selling chocolate together and say is that jewish food, we look at bacon, the quintessential nonkosher food for jewish law. And ask if jewish people have a particular reaction to it is the jewish food. Is crisco, a food that has been marketed to jewish people during the 20th century is that a jewish food so, theres this idea that we as individuals might have, and the idea that we can explode this notion of what is jewish. Wonderful were going to come back in just a moment here on mosaic, thank you so much for being with us. Welcome back, were here with the owner of illuminashi, from your perspective how is it with jewish food coming back into mainstream . The fact that our food which admittedly ashkenazi jewish food is not the most flavorful, its comfort food for us and nostalgic and thats why we love it so much but i dont think its always the best food. But last week for those people that watch top chef, were almost at the final and a woman chef from kentucky who is jewish had to cook something from their own heritage and mix it with jennys flavors because theyre in macau, she went shopping where she couldnt read the packages, shabbat crackers and made matzoh ball soup with chinese broth. And she one and hearing the judges discuss the merits of this matzoh ball soup. I just felt such a sense of pride, watching this and being like this is a gourmet challenge and she might win the title with a bowl of matzoh ball soup thats an incredible moment for Jewish Cuisine i think. And thats fascinating. What is really jewish zine and the elements that define it. So much of how it has been defined in the United States has been shaped by Companies Like the Manischewitz Company which promoted matzoh ball soup as an everyday food its a food for passover and matzoh ball soup most of and dumpling soup for the holiday of passover but the company, had this amazing idea that they would sell their meal from which you could make matzoh balls yearround and therefore, we got matzoh ball soup yearround as a recognizably jewish food. So from something that is particular, something that comes every day what then do you think is kind of a big question, what is the future of the jewish food . . I think there is a trend toward elevating it by some chefs as alex was speaking to and it is still there is still home tradition, and the ways in which it is evolving in all of our through all of our broader food trends, would you agree . I think its really interesting to watching whats happened with israeli food, i think its really, first of all as someone who spent my lifetime visiting israel there didnt used to be that good of food but now it is amazing its considered one of the worlds best cuisines and we have the Celebrity Chefs the first is really british after in the second israeliamerican chef whose elevated the israeli cuisine to such a high level but people are waiting for the next cookbook and the two of them, i think are responsible for this, the celebrity seth culture which the combination of that and the fax that is really food has increasingly gotten better and better. Alex and rachel believe it or not were at the end of urschel we want to say thank you so much for being care and encourage all of you to get a recipe go to a jewish deli, and enjoy jewish food, inc. Is much for being care on mosaic. Thank you. Need better sleep . Try natures bounty sleep 3 a unique tri layer supplement, that calms you helps you fall a sleep faster and stay a sleep longer. Great sleep comes naturally with sleep 3 only from natures bounty live from the cvs bay area studios this is kpix 5 news. First night of her fears over and are mixed emotions as we face nighttime lockdowns again. And illegal curfew will not abide by, ridiculous. The covid cocktail approved by the fda to help battle the virus but you can and cannot get the treatment . President trump orders another recount in the state of georgia it will the results be any different the third time around. Lets start with a check of our weather. It will be the same story today, tomorrow and all the way into next week and that is clear, calm, cool and dry. Current conditions right